


Physical Reminders

by dietcokeenthusiast



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-23
Updated: 2016-02-23
Packaged: 2018-05-22 17:41:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6088645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dietcokeenthusiast/pseuds/dietcokeenthusiast
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Corrin's picked up her share of scars over the years, but the one that hurts the most is the one that Rhajat happens to be the most interested in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Physical Reminders

**Author's Note:**

> So I ended up giving my Corrin an eyepatch in Birthright, and thought it'd be neat to try to think up a story behind it. Also ended up being a good excuse for shameless Corrin/Rhajat fluff. :) Enjoy!

Corrin woke up to thick black hair in her mouth and all over her face. Fighting the urge to start hacking and coughing as it tickled her throat, she carefully removed it as much of it as she could. There was a lone strand on the back of her tongue she just couldn’t get for the life of her, though, and she knew it’d probably be bothering her all morning. She’d gotten used to waking up with a mouthful of hair over the past little while, though. While it was a bit annoying, if that was the price of admission for the woman clinging to her waist being the first thing she saw every morning, she could deal with the occasional hair on the back of her throat.

Gazing down fondly at a sleeping Rhajat with her good eye, she looked positively serene. A content expression was on her face, the corners of her mouth turning slightly upward as she moved to hug Corrin even tighter. Rhajat wasn’t so much a “cuddler” as a “death gripper”, but it was just another one of her wife’s quirks that she had come to appreciate and even love. Their courtship had been fairly quick; being in the middle of a war that had already claimed her mother’s life had a tendency to accelerate those sorts of things. Still, in the case of Rhajat, it just meant there were still new delightfully odd things to discover and fall for.  
  
Corrin sighed, letting the fingers on her free hand play with Rhajat’s hair while she basked in her presence, minutes passing without notice. When she finally felt a stirring against her, she quickly turned her head away and reached clumsily for her eyepatch on the nightstand. She felt a sense of relief wash over her as she was somehow able to fasten it even with one of her arms pinned to her side. She turned back to see Rhajat staring intently at her.

“Good morning,” she smiled.

“Morning,” Corrin replied, tilting her head down to kiss her. “Did you sleep well?”

“How could I not when I get to wake up next to that face?” Rhajat grinned. “If I could I’d preserve it and carry it around with me in a jar.”

Corrin laughed, then kissed her again. “I’ve still got to use it for a while longer, I’m afraid.”

“That’s no fun,” Rhajat deadpanned, earning yet more laughter from Corrin.

She patted Rhajat’s arm. “Come on, I’m going to make tea.”

Groaning, Rhajat reluctantly released her grip, as Corrin strode over to add another log to the stove. She brushed her fiery red hair from her eyes as she dug around in the cupboards for the leaves.

“I hope this pot’s better than the last one you made,” Rhajat called out. “You always think _I’m_ going to poison the tea party, and you managed to make everyone gag.”

“First of all, no one thinks you’re going to poison anyone. My sisters all love you,” Corrin reassured her, putting the kettle on to boil. “Secondly, my tea was perfectly drinkable once we added some sugar! Besides, Jakob’s been teaching me, and he says it’s satisfactory.”

“Satisfactory. Yay,” Rhajat droned. Corrin chuckled in spite of being unsure whether she was simply teasing, or being genuinely snarky.

Corrin thought things were going smoothly until it came time to pour the tea, letting the kettle slip from her hands and spilling half of it on the floor, leading Rhajat to burst into giggles. Rolling her eyes, Corrin poured what was left into two cups and walked them over to the bed. Her eyes were immediately drawn to Rhajat, who looked as beautiful as ever, lying on her side with her head propped up on her elbow.

“Here you go,” Corrin spoke, handing over the fuller cup and sitting down on the bed. “I hope it’s not gag-inducing this time.”

Rhajat took a sip and smirked. “Yeah, it’s satisfactory.”

“Better than nothing!” Corrin shrugged, taking a long drink of her own. For someone as inept at anything involving a stove as her, she thought she did a pretty decent job of it.

Gulping down the last of her tea, she turned her head to find Rhajat suddenly looking very tense, biting her nails. “Is something wrong, love? I thought the tea wasn’t that bad this time.”

Rhajat paused for a moment. “I’ve never seen you without your eyepatch.”

Corrin raised her eyebrow. “What about it?”

“You always wear it, and I mean _always_ , and you never talk to anyone about why you wear it. Not even me.”

Corrin did her best to mask her unease. “Well, I’m just sensitive about my scars, and this one is really bad,” she explained with a nervous smile. It wasn’t untrue; her face already had its share of battle scars, and this one especially still hurt. “Why the sudden interest?”

Rhajat blinked. “You’re always in such a hurry to put it on before I wake up,” she smirked unconvincingly. “Maybe some dark secret you’re hiding from me?”

“I-it’s really nothing that interesting.” Corrin stammered.                 

“How did it happen?”

Corrin paused for a minute. “It was a long time ago, when I was just little. My big brother Xander finally let me start sparring with him. Just with wood swords, but little me still thought it was the coolest thing ever. He always won, but I got him pretty good a couple of times,” she chuckled. “Anyways, the more we practiced, the harder we went. We just went too hard one day. One his swings hit my face by accident, and then it was just… blackness. When I finally woke up, he was right by my bed, almost crying he was so relieved,” she smiled sadly. “It was sweet. He and I used to be so close.”

 _Used to be,_ her voice starting to break on those words. She took a moment to compose herself, trying not to dwell on the thought. Rhajat shifted to be closer to her, the scent of lavender filling Corrin’s nostrils.

“Um, in any case,” Corrin cleared her throat before continuing, “I was fine, but it turned out he had hit me so hard his practice sword just splintered. Between all the jagged pieces and the blunt force, well, this happened,” she gestured to her eye patch. “Just an accident.”

Corrin looked over at Rhajat, whose expression had hardened as she bit down on her thumbnail. The silence was becoming somewhat worrying to Corrin when she spoke. “Sorry, just trying to think of which of my curses would be horrible and painful enough for your brother after what he did to you.”

Corrin shook her head. “This is why I didn’t want anyone here to know. Rhaj…”

“Or maybe there’s a poison I could whip up that would really make him hurt. I’ll have to check to see what herbs I-“

“Rhaj!” Corrin interrupted. “It was an accident, and it was a long time ago.”

“He hurt you,” Rhajat replied coldly. “It isn’t the only time, either. They told me about what happened when you refused to go back to him. Some _brother,_ ” she spat. “I promised I was always going to watch over you. How can I say I’m any good at that if I let him get away with this?

“You are good at watching over me. That’s why you can’t hurt him,” Corrin pleaded. “Even after the things he’s done and the things he’s doing now, even… even if he still hates me,” _Gods, it hurt so much to say that_ . “He’s still my brother. Besides, there’s already been so much suffering, so much death, we don’t need more,” she explained, cupping Rhajat’s cheek with her hand. “I know you just want to protect me, but promise that if we see him, no matter what he does, that if there’s any other way… you won’t hurt him.”

Rhajat let out an exasperated sigh, still biting down on her nails. “You never let me have any fun,” she grumbled. “…Fine. I guess it’s kind of noble of you to still want to spare him.”

Corrin leaned in closer to kiss Rhajat’s forehead. “Thank you, love.”

“You owe me,” Rhajat replied dryly.

Corrin laughed. “I knew it wouldn’t be that easy.” Another silence had fallen between the two. Rhajat was still biting down on her nails, her body still tense.

Finally, Rhajat set her tea on the ground, and took Corrin’s hand in hers. Rhajat raised it to her face, planting a soft kiss along her fingers. “Corrin,” her voice far softer than it ever usually was. “I’d like to see.”

Corrin hesitated, drawing in a deep breath. Telling the story was bad enough, but to expose herself like that? Seeing the love and reassurance in Rhajat’s gaze, though, she wondered if maybe this would be okay. Maybe she’d be the one person she didn’t have to hide it around. Finally exhaling, she whispered “Okay.”

She cautiously removed the eyepatch. The gouges in her skin were still red and deep, and even if she somehow had been able to save her vision, the eye was rendered incapable of opening long ago. Though years had passed, she knew that there was only so much that time could to heal a wound like that. It’d always be her disfigurement, her mark, her reminder. Somehow, it felt more a burden than it ever had before, now knowing how the family who raised her had grown to despise her. Corrin felt her gaze reflexively turn downward, desperately trying to avoid catching a glimpse of Rhajat’s reaction. She didn’t have it in her to know how much of that ugliness she could see. As silent moments passed, Corrin’s feelings of shame and exposure deepened. _She’s disgusted. I knew it. I should never have-_

Her thoughts were interrupted by two fingers under her chin, tilting her head up to see her wife’s face, a gentle smile spread across it. She kissed her, slow and tender, hand tracing Corrin’s jawline. Breaking away, Rhajat shifted her attention to the side of her head, kissing along the scar that ran from Corrin’s ear to her chin. Finally, she ran her fingers over the wounded flesh she had revealed, moving up to gently kiss the scars around her eye.

When she finished, she looked back into Corrin’s eye with the same expression as before. “Beautiful,” she whispered.

Almost ecstatic with relief, Corrin grabbed Rhajat by the shoulders and kissed her deeply. She had lost so much since abandoning Nohr, but it wasn’t as though she gained nothing; she gained the freedom to act according to her conscience, a relationship with the family she never knew, and most importantly, Rhajat. The woman who could see her at her most vulnerable, most wounded, and somehow kiss away her sadness and insecurities. If there had been nothing else for here, it would all be worth it for Rhajat.

Corrin smiled softly when she finally broke away and rested her forehead against Rhajat’s. “I love you.”

Rhajat returned the smile. “I love you, too.” The two embraced each other a while longer, neither wanting to move from the other’s grasp.

“Rhaj?” Corrin murmured, still nuzzled closesly against her neck. “Can you promise not to tell anyone about my scar, or how I got it? I-it’s not something that’s easy for me think about. I’d like it if it was just our secret.”

Rhajat giggled. “Getting to know a piece of you I don’t have to share with anyone else? I’m fine with that.”

Corrin gave her a quick peck. “You never have to share me with anyone, love.”

“Good,” Rhajat whispered, pulling Corrin down into another, deeper kiss.


End file.
